Preview

What Is The Venus Of Willendorf?

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
212 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is The Venus Of Willendorf?
The Venus of Willendorf, also known as Woman of Willendorf or Nude Woman, is a female figurine that was found in 1908 at Willendorf in Austria. This figurine had been curved around 24,000–22,000 BCE or during the Paleolithic period. However, many people believe that she was curved somewhere else but not at Willendorf. She is a hand-size figurine that is high about 4-3/8 inches or 11.1 cm and is easily transportable by hand as well. For her appearances, there is no any facial feature—which means she has no eye, nose, or mouth—and her feet are missing also. Many people believe that she is a fertility figurine, which is represented as a mother goddess symbol. So, they think she somehow will bring such a great lucky into people’s lives.

Not only

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    LACMA Museum Visit

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The third floor of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art houses a permanent collection on Ancient Egyptian art. One of the pieces there is a 13" high figurine of the goddess Wadjet, sculpted from bronze in during the 26th Dynasty, est. 664-525 BCE. The figurine is in the round, with only the goddess's feet attached the rectangular base she stands on. The hieroglyphs on the base identify her, as well as the name and parentage of the person who dedicated her figurine. She is shown in the traditional ancient Egyptian pose, with her left foot forward. She is wearing some sort of dress, but her decidedly feminine figure, with a curved abdomen, narrow waist, and protruding breasts, is clearly portrayed through it. Her right arm is held rigidly at her side, again in strict stylistic convention, and her left arm bends only at the elbow to hold whatever less enduring material was placed there. In fact, both of her hands were clearly intended to encircle props, but these have been lost and as such, what they once were can only be inferred from other portrayals of the goddess. She clearly wears necklaces, armbands, and bracelets; this highly detailed work is also present on her lion's mane, which is shaped similarly to the pharoah's headdress. She has the head of a lioness, upon which rests the sacred cobra and sun disk, called the uraeus.…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The placement suggested that she was born of the ocean. To her left was the male angel, Zephyr, god of west winds hovering midair holding a female figure, Chloris a nymph of spring and blossoming flowers in an embrace. Blown by the west wind towards the shore and greeted by a graceful female figure, Horae, goddesses of the seasons, gifted her with a cape to clothes the newborn deity. Like other art of the Renaissances period, this piece sought to glorify feminine grace and beauty. Like “Akhenaten, Nefertiti and three daughters,” “The Birth of Venus” the artist central placement of the anchor, seashell and Venus were balanced by the figures to either side which complimented each other allowing for an equal distribution of visual weight. As you have seen, the asymmetrical balance allowed for a more visually pleasing presentation. The wings of the male angel, Zephyr were dark and looming and balanced out by the equally dense canopy of leaves from the tree on…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Venus Figurines-is an umbrella term for a number of prehistoric statuettes of women portrayed with similar physical attributes from the Upper Paleolithic, mostly found in Europe, but with finds as far as Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia, extending their distribution to much of Eurasia, from the Pyrenees to Lake Baikal.…

    • 2340 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Her great age and pronounced female forms quickly established the Venus of Willendorf as an icon of prehistoric art. She was soon included in introductory art history textbooks where she quickly displaced other previously used examples of Paleolithic art. Being both female and nude, she fitted perfectly into the patriarchal construction of the history of art. As the earliest known representation, she became the "first woman," acquiring a sort of Ur-Eve identity that focused…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Venus of Willendorf "was found on August 7th, 1908 during a systematic excavation in the ninth and highest layer of Site II in Willendorf, Austria by Josef Szombathy. The most recent estimate of her date of origin is 24,000-22,000 B.C " (Chapman, 1998, p.1). She is one of the most famous of the non-tool artifacts created by the earlier Stone Age people. It was said that the "earlier Stone Age people were content to collect pebbles in whose natural shape they saw something that made them special " (Janson, 2001, p.35). As written by Janson, (2001) apparently the Willendorf 's voluptuous figure was formed by an egg shaped pebble. Her shape definitely gives off a womanly aura which is probably why she is considered a symbol of fertility. According to Hahn, Joachim, (1996) other hints…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Archaeologist Josef Szombathy found a unique masterpiece in 1908, The Venus of Willendorf. Joesef found the sculpture near the town of Willendorf in Austria. The incredible sculpture must have been created somewhere else due to the fact that the Venus of Willendorf was created from a type of oolitic limestone that is not found in the region (L. C. E. Witcombe).The interesting sculpture’s characteristics are remarkable. The approximate measurement of the statuette is eleven centimeters in height and four centimeters in width. The masterpiece was created out of yellow limestone as well as tinted red by traces of ochre. When someone looks at the statuette, they see a short female as well as features you would see on a female, drooping breasts, a large belly, as well as a pronounced buttock. The sculpture…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ten Miles West of Venus

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    "Ten Miles West of Venus" by Judy Troy is about a minister who visits a friend who stops attending Sunday service after her husband commits suicide. They have a conversation about the one time they kissed passionately. When the minister attempts to sway his friend into coming back to church, she admits to worrying about the people of their congregation being ashamed to have her part of their church because of the suicide. The minister admits that there might be a few people, but the majority is supportive. He is disappointed but understands that she is still grieving when she admits to not relying on God as much any more. On his way home, life seemed a little gloomier as he asked for mercy from God for his sins. Judy Troy suggests that the past decisions of not only oneself, but others surrounding, affect the lifestyle that one leads.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Venus Statue Analysis

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When one hears the term sculpture in the round they might think of a circle or sphere. Sculpture in the round truly just means an object that can be viewed from all sides. In the margin is an example of modern day sculpture in the round that shares many attributes to Woman (Venus of Willendorf) found in Willendorf, Austria. ca. 25,000-20,000 (Sayre 5). Both statues have particularly voluptuous figures and are seemingly human. The only difference being the Venus statue is missing a head and clothing, whereas the Buddha statue is fully clothed. Although very different contexts, both figures seem to be objects of praise. The Venus figure’s praise comes more from a place of female standard of beauty, while the Buddha is from a more spiritual and religious context. To contrast, the Venus figurine is made of limestone and stands at only 4” (Sayre 5). While the Buddha figure isn’t exactly large, it is still much bigger than the Venus of Willdendorf. It is fair to say that even though there are quite a few differences between the two sculptures, their size, shape, and stature are undeniably…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sandro Botticelli’s, The Birth of Venus, and Titian’s, Venus of Urbino are two paintings featuring the female nude, Venus as the main figure of the paintings. She is a classical representation of beauty and sensuality. Although these paintings have similar attributes such as the use of linear perspective, chiaroscuro, and their similar period style they have different hidden meanings. The Birth of Venus shows the story of how Venus came to be and portrays different gods and goddesses while in The Venus of Urbino, it is more of an allegory for marriage.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1908, archaeologist Josef Szombathy’s workman Josef Veram uncovered the figure that has come to be known as the Venus of Willendorf. Found at a Paleolithic dig site in Willendorf, Austria, the Venus of Willendorf is a small limestone figure of a women. 53 years later, in Çatalhöyük, Turkey James Mellaart dug up the Seated Mother Goddess, or Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük. This figure was also clearly a women, but it was larger, and made out of clay as compared to the Venus of Willendorf. Though they came from very different parts of the world, historians soon recognized the striking similarities between the two figures. Despite the differences between where they were found, and the time periods they came from, the two figures had undeniable similarities. Both had largely defined…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For many researches, and scientists, Paleolithic society was thought to have been an age of grit, savagery, and masculinity where women are practically wiped out of the history books only to be remembered by crude statutes carved out between 27,000 and 20,000 years ago called Venuses. Such little focus on the women of the Paleolithic era led scientists to misinterpret these Venus statutes as objects of sexual fetishes due to their exaggerated body features, as Angier points out, “Researchers have suggested that the figurines were fertility fetishes, or prehistoric erotica, or gynecology primers.” Angier and several other scientists believe that minor details such as intricate headdresses, string skirts, and belts were overlooked during the observation of the statues.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Female Figure Analysis

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Throughout history the woman figure has been depicted in many ways. One of the most prominent way in which the female figure is seen is as a reference to fertility. Another much more appealing aspect of femininity is its use to represent ferocious deities. This essay will examine the different ways in which the female figure has been depicted by examining four pieces of art. The four pieces I will focus on will be: Female figurine found at Dolni., Innana/Ishtar with Lions and Owls, The Gorgon, Medusa, from the west pediment for the Artemis Temple, and Coatlicue, from Aztec temple precinct at Tenochtitlán.…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    The Venus of Willendorf gets her name based on the term art historian’s used to depict early sculptures of women and based on where she was discovered. The Venus of Willendorf was given the “Venus” name because it is a collective term that art historians and archaeologists used to name Stone Age figurines of women. The term Venus comes from the Greco-Roman goddess of beauty and love. The term “Willendorf”’ fits into her name because she was found on the banks of the Danube River in Willendorf, Austria. According to Gardners Art through the Ages, the name Venus of Willendorf is “inappropriate and misleading… it is doubtful…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Humanities Final Paper

    • 1547 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Venus de Willendorf is a statuette that first appeared during the Upper Paleolithic period. The exaggerated carvings of the body parts were how the artists of that time viewed women, fat and fertile. History often takes from the past to reinvent the future. Today’s society has the Barbie doll. Ruth Handler created it in 1959. Its long legs and slim figure has been worship by so many, that real women have undergone intense cosmetic surgeries to resemble the doll. Both figurines have gained notoriety based on the representation of women of their era, displayed their own meaning of beauty and cultures’ perception of it.…

    • 1547 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beauty Definition Essay

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Famous artist, Sandro Botticelli, illustrated what beauty was in the 1480’s through a painting called The Birth of Venus. In the highly praised artwork, Venus, the Roman goddess of fertility and beauty, exemplifies what beauty was in that time period. She had pearly white skin, a body structure that was feminine and non-muscular, and a rounded face with a high forehead, which symbolized high intelligence. Over time, the beauty trends have changed dramatically. In today’s modeling industry, beauty holds a juggling act between slim figures mirrored by Twiggy and Kate Moss and curvy figures as Kate Upton. Masculine beauty has formatted into a bulky, muscular toned body structure when, in the 1930’s, it was a popular for a male to keep a slim fitted body. This demonstrates how physical beauty is…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays